Sic Itur Ad Astra
by lipstickdisaster
Summary: As Kelsi is about to wake you up and shoot you with her arrow, the unthinkable happens. By just a small touch, an accidental grace of her arrow against Troy's skin, it's not you that falls in love with the pig. Troy, the almighty god of thunder, falls in love with you. TxG.


**A/N: Hi, hello! Late last year, I did a 3-sentence fic meme on Tumblr and got a really awesome prompt to write about Troyella as a god and a human. I've always really loved Greek mythology, so I decided to write a longer oneshot based on this prompt. I've ended up basing it on the Eros & Psyche myth, but I've also been toying with writing something based on Orpheus & Eurydice, so maybe I'll return in the future with another fic based on Greek mythology…**

**Also, as you may have seen in the tags and in the summary, this is entirely written in second person POV. I quite like writing this way and I personally enjoy the stylistically different vibe it gives the story, but I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, so consider this a warning, I guess!**

**Either way, enjoy and please leave reviews, they make my day! And please visit me on Tumblr at gabriellabolton (my main blog) and bisexualsharpay (my HSM sideblog)!**

**P.S. The title is a Latin phrase from Virgil's _Aeneid_, meaning "thus one journeys to the stars".**

* * *

It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

You're not even aware of the moment your fate is set, because you're asleep. It's completely out of your hands.

You're just supposed to be punished for evoking the envy of one of the most powerful goddesses – Sharpay, goddess of love.

It's not even that you enjoy being admired for your beauty, that you enjoy being Gabriella, the princess renowned for her beauty, but it happens, and no human gets away with being worshipped the same way that gods are supposed to be worshipped.

So, here's what is supposed to happen – Kelsi, goddess of attraction, is supposed to bring a pig to your castle, to your chambers, while you're asleep, and she's going to wake you up and you're going to fall in love with it. It's a cruel fate that Kelsi doesn't particularly enjoy bestowing upon you, but it is what it is.

What actually happens is this – Kelsi doesn't come alone. As she brings along the pig, she evokes the concern and curiosity of Troy, god of thunder. As such, he follows her to your castle, to your chamber. Curious to see what will happen, he helps Kelsi carry out this devious plan.

And as Kelsi is about to wake you up and shoot you with her arrow, the unthinkable happens. By just a small touch, an accidental grace of her arrow against Troy's skin, it's not you that falls in love with the pig.

Troy, the almighty god of thunder, falls in love with you.

And, without you actually knowing it, that seals your fate. Your fate of becoming the enemy of a goddess, of becoming the lover of an immortal being. Your fate of going through trials and tribulations to reach happiness, and divine interference being present at every step of the way.

Love is a cruel thing.

* * *

When you wake up to find a pig at the end of your bed, it creates an uproar within the palace. There's no way that anyone could have come past the security guards. The only way is through powers that no human could possess.

It must be punishment from the gods for your beauty rivalling Sharpay's. It must mean that you have made a very powerful enemy, and it must mean that you're in harm's way.

You don't share that opinion, though. The guards are not infallible – they must have made an error along the way, their attention must have dropped for a moment, and some jealous girl must have taken advantage of that. You've dealt with jealous girls before, and while it is exasperating, you're not in any real danger. You'll be okay.

Your parents aren't convinced that everything is fine, though, so they go see the oracle, in the hopes that Ryan, the god of music, the one who can see the future, will know more. Oh, how you wish they hadn't. How you wish you could have stayed in blissful ignorance.

Marriage is in your future. And your spouse will be an immortal being, one with an explosive rumble. And they're waiting for you to be taken to them by the wind.

That's a fate much more brutal than being scorned by Sharpay, crueller than anything any envious mortal girl could conjure up.

You didn't ask for this. You don't want this to be your fate. You don't want to be married to some immortal monster.

So, you do the only thing you can think of to escape this horrible future. You run.

You know it's dangerous, and you know that you won't be able to outrun the fate that's been set for you for forever, but you can't sit back and let yourself be taken without putting up a fight.

You don't know how much time you spend in the woods, wandering about aimlessly, alone in the dark and cold, in a constant state of fear and danger, but you keep telling yourself that it's for the best.

You'd much rather be alone to be with a monster.

Your time alone ends rather abruptly as you find yourself suddenly in what seems like an endless meadow, full of pretty flowers and rich colours, buzzing bees and sunshine.

It's such a stark contrast to the dark woods that you've become accustomed to, that you think that you might have died of hunger and have ended up on the eternal fields, not remembering your trip through the underworld to get there.

A voice in the back of your mind reminds you that you have antagonized the gods and will never end up with eternal happiness, and it's all you need to know that you're still alive.

A figure appears before you. It's a small girl, bespectacled, with auburn curls framing her smiling face. She offers you help, without even asking what you're doing so deep into the woods, and a part of you is scared and wants to say no.

What if it's a trap from the gods?

However, she's offering you food and a warm bed and you are in desperate need of both those things. You still feel like you need to run, but you need to survive first.

The girl brings you to a small cottage in the middle of the meadow, where she says she lives with her brother.

When you meet her brother, something stirs within you. It's not quite attraction – at least, you don't think it is; you've heard tales of Kelsi's notorious arrows and this seems different to you –, but it's curiosity.

And you have to admit, he is quite easy on the eyes, too. While you take in his mop of soft, brown hair, his lop-sided smile, his slightly stubbled cheeks, and his eyes that are as blue as the ocean and as bright as a star, you wonder if maybe it _is_ attraction after all.

He seems equally fascinated by you – while you feast on the food he and his sister offer you, he keeps sneaking curious glances at you, a glint of something in his eyes that you can't decipher. When he smiles and winks at you, you swear your heart flutters.

Yet there's something about him that you can't quite trust. There's something mysterious, something secretive. Not just about him, but also about his sister.

Your instincts and your deepest fears tell you that you shouldn't stay, but, as he continues to make your heart flutter, you choose to ignore the voices nagging in your head.

You have to choose between two evils, and this is the lesser.

You stay.

What you don't know is that these siblings who are offering you a safe place, are Troy, god of thunder, and Kelsi, goddess of attraction, themselves.

What you don't know is that Troy is already deeply, madly in love with you, and that he wants to give you a chance to fall in love with him, too, and that he wants you to fall in love with him on your own terms.

What you don't know is that he and Kelsi are here just to make sure that you're taken care of.

What you don't know is that you've run into the arms of the man you've desperately been trying to outrun.

What you don't know is that your heart has already given in to its fate.

* * *

You fall for him. It takes time, but it happens nonetheless.

As the days pass by, you start to get to know him. During the days, when Martha, the goddess of the sun, is riding her golden chariot along the skies, you walk in the meadow together and bask in the beauty of it all. He doesn't seem to be as amazed by the meadow as you are, because every time you sneak a glance at him, he's staring at you. It should be strange, but it's not. It's oddly exhilarating.

He tells you stories about his childhood, about how his parents thought he was destined for greatness, about how he loathed the pressure. As you tell him that you understand, you can see the tension ease in his shoulder and he tells you that he had already hoped you would.

You tell him about your fate, and how you feel a similar pressure weighing you down – a pressure of being beautiful, a pressure of being fated to such a frightening future –, and something in his eyes changes. The lightness and mirth inside them seems to die and they are replaced by a storm that brews in the depths of his blue irises.

He tells you that he's sorry.

You have no idea about the double meaning of his apology.

During the nights, you sit together by the candlelight. While his sister is asleep, you talk about anything and everything. It's mostly mundane things, like what your favourite book is – you're delighted to find that his sister has a book collection, full of books and exciting tales that you have never even heard of.

Even though it's all silly and superficial, you like these moments with him and you wish they could last forever.

You realize that you've fallen for him when you help him bake cookies, using his friend's favourite recipe. It's a cliché for the ages – he throws flour at you and you retaliate until you're in the midst of a full-fledged food fight. It ends with you standing really close to him and you can feel his heart thump against his chest. It makes your heart beat a little faster, too.

As you stare at him, at his freckles, his stubble, his smile, his eyes, you can't help but feel a strong urge to lean into him, to taste his lips, to succumb to desire and let your heart take reign.

His sister interrupts you, but the wonderful feelings that he invokes in you outweigh the disappointment that the moment has passed.

Your first kiss goes like this – you're lying in the meadow together, watching the plentiful colours in the sky as the sun sets and Martha finishes her chariot ride for the day. Suddenly, he holds out a flower in front of you. A daisy. He lifts himself up and leans over you, your breath stuck in your throat as he softly places the daisy in your raven-coloured locks.

He tells you that you're more beautiful than any sunset as he runs his hand through your hair, and before you know what's happening, he leans in and captures your lips.

It's heaven. His lips are soft, his kiss tender, and your entire body feels like it's floating on air. You've definitely been shot with Kelsi's arrow.

You're definitely in love.

* * *

For a while, you bask in your newfound love. You kiss him, you hold his hand, you do all the things that young couples in love do.

It all comes crashing down rather quickly, however.

Although you love being with him, and you enjoy his sister's company too, you miss your old life. You miss your friends, your family, your home. As much as your current place of residence feels like heaven, it doesn't quite feel like home.

You tell him all that one night, and he encourages you to go home, but you can't. You're still too afraid of what will happen.

You're also afraid that you're going to miss him too much.

A few days pass and suddenly a new person appears in the meadow. It's strange, and a part of you feels cautious of him again, since you've been all by your lonesome until now.

However, you're quite happy there's someone new. Because she's not new at all, really. She's your best friend from home, Taylor.

She, too, encourages you to come home, but you convince her to stay with you for a while, after you've explained that you don't want your fate to be decided for you. She understands that – after all, Taylor wants women to make choices for themselves.

In hindsight, you wish she hadn't stayed.

She means well, really, but she gets into your head, reawakens those instincts that initially made you wary of falling in love with this unfamiliar man who lives deep in the woods.

There's something odd about this meadow, something almost magical, and just like you, she's afraid there are bigger forces at work.

And, she tells you, even if he is just who he says is, and not some figment of imagination created by the gods or an immortal being in disguise, you're still going to be heartbroken. Because, as terrible as it is, your fate has been set.

Either he's going to betray you or you're going to have to leave him to be with someone, or _something _else.

Either way, you're going to be left utterly heartbroken.

That thought keeps lingering in the back of your mind, but you decide to try to push it away. You know what your fate is, and you know that you can't run forever, but you're going to make the most of it while it lasts.

It doesn't last long.

The night after Taylor convinces you that you shouldn't stay with him, you and Taylor decide to sneak out of the house to watch the stars, just to make the most of your time together before she inevitably returns to the castle, with or without you.

When you do, you overhear him talking to his sister. You overhear them talking about time running out, about arrows, about thunder, about returning to the East Mountain, where the gods reside.

With stunning clarity, it all makes sense.

You were right. Taylor was right. He's not a human man with noble intentions and no ulterior motives.

He's _Troy_. You've fallen in love with the god of thunder. And you're supposed to _marry_ him.

You don't have time or the right mind frame to contemplate that this is not bad. Your destined husband is not some terrible monster, he's a god. And you'll get to be with the man you love forever.

But that's just what scares you. By trying to outrun your fate, by trying to make your own choices, you've run straight into his arms, and he didn't even have the decency to tell you the truth.

As much as you love him, you feel betrayed and trapped. Therefore, you decide to run away again.

You make plans to sneak out in the deepest, darkest of the night and never to return to the meadow. He doesn't even have to know until you're far away from his grasp.

Of course, it's not that simple.

Your heart still aching for him, you decide to take one last glance at him before you slip out, hovering over him with your lightened candle as you watch him sleep peacefully.

It doesn't change the fact that he's betrayed you, but he truly is beautiful and wonderful and everything you could have hoped for in a partner.

As you gaze at him lovingly once last time, before leaving him forever, your candle tips over and some wax drips onto his bare chest. He wakes up with a startled gasp and as realization dawns in his eyes, you scream and hurry out of the house.

Your hear his agonized screams of your name as you flee the premises, but he doesn't follow you.

What you don't know, is that he _can't_ follow you. His burn from the candle wax is not just a burn. He has been hurt by his lover, something even a god isn't immune to.

Just as he hurt you, you hurt him.

And now he's in as much danger as you are.

* * *

You have no idea how much danger he truly is in, and how much danger it brings to you.

When Kelsi finds him, burned and wounded, she knows that it's over, that there's no way to do it on their own any longer.

They return to the East Mountain.

The only other god who is aware of what is going on between you and Troy is Ryan, as he's the oracle and he can see the future. He knows that there's going to be a happy ending. Troy and Kelsi don't. You don't.

As Troy and Kelsi return to the East Mountain, there's no way to keep the secret any longer. Everyone can see that you wounded him, and it scandalizes and enrages the other gods, especially Sharpay.

She is livid. Not only did you rival her beauty, now you're also her love rival, and Sharpay knows that if you do get your happy ending with him, you will become a goddess, just like her.

That's too much for her to bear.

So, while she tends to Troy – after all, winning Troy's love and affection is her gateway to more power, as she'd be part of the most powerful couple in all the universe –, she imprisons Kelsi for not completing her task of tormenting you and for betraying her by helping you and Troy.

Meanwhile, Sharpay also tries to decide on a new plan to make your life a living hell. And as she has worried about you endlessly, she's got just the great idea to get rid of you forever, should you want her help.

And you'll want it, she reckons. Because you're in love.

And while she plots and schemes, Troy deteriorates. The wound you have accidentally inflicted on him won't kill him, as he's immortal, but the effects are severe nonetheless.

Unbeknownst to you, he falls into a deep slumber.

And he might never wake up.

* * *

After you run away, you're at a crossroads. Go back to the castle and be taken to him anyway or stay in the woods, returning to solitude and anxiety.

You're so shocked by your lover's secret identity that you're scared. You don't want to face the reality of being with a god for eternity yet, so you convince Taylor to stay with you in the forest, so you can make your own destiny, as terrible as it may be still.

And even though you're not entirely alone with her company, you still feel alone and heartbroken. But, as before, you tell yourself it's for the best.

You realize rather quickly, though, that it's not for the best. You don't know what makes you change your mind – perhaps it's the voice that sounds a lot like Kelsi nagging in the back of your head –, but you miss him.

As much as he hurt and frightened you, you still love him and you want to make things right.

The best way to do this is, of course, to go back to the castle and to let yourself be taken away, but for some reason, that doesn't seem like the right option.

Your parents will be livid that you've run away – and they'd have every right to be, really –, and after you've run away from him, you don't know how Troy feels about you. After all, gods are very easily swayed to fall in love with the next best thing.

Maybe you have changed your fate. And while that should delight you, considering how this all started, the thought of never being with him again makes your stomach sink and your heart ache.

You need help. From the gods. From one in particular, one that probably – _definitely_ – hates you.

You need help from Sharpay.

And she will help you. On one condition. Before she offers you her help, she tells you as you go to her temple, you will have to do something for her.

You will have to go to the underworld to get some of the eternal youth of Tiara, goddess of the underworld, so Sharpay can get back the beauty she lost while worrying over you and over Troy's deteriorating health.

When she decided to make your life a living hell, she wasn't kidding.

You know what going to the underworld means for humans. Very few people come out alive, if any at all.

Sharpay is sending you on a suicide mission.

You almost refuse. There's no way you're going to walk straight to your own death in the hopes of Tiara giving you something that she probably doesn't even want to give – after all, while you are Sharpay's mortal enemy, Tiara is her immortal one.

However, when you're about to say no and resign yourself to a future where you're never going to be with Troy, a voice whispers in your head.

It's not Kelsi this time, and it's not Troy. It's another male voice, another god who seems to be getting himself involved.

You don't know who it is, but you're grateful to him.

He tells you that he will protect you, that you need to get your happy ending, because Troy's life depends on it as well. He tells you about Troy's dire situation and it shocks you as guilt settles in the pit of your stomach.

The voice tells you not to feel guilty, though. It will all be okay, just as long as you defy the odds and defeat Sharpay and Tiara.

He'll be by your side. He owes it to Troy.

You don't know why you trust this voice, but you do.

So, you say yes to Sharpay and you set out to visit the underworld.

* * *

It turns out that the voice that convinced you to go to the underworld is that of Chad, god of war and Troy's best friend.

It's almost ironic, that the god of war is helping someone set out for a happy ending, but Chad can't deny his friend his happiness, and when he catches wind of Sharpay's plans, he can't stop himself from interfering.

He enlists Zeke, god of agriculture, and Jason, god of wine, to help him out, too. When you set out on your journey to the underworld, they follow you every step of the way in an attempt to ensure that you make it there safely and in the hopes that you'll return to their friend one day.

It's good that they're watching over you, guiding your step through mystic whispers, because if it weren't for them, you wouldn't even have made it to the underworld.

You're understandably tired from the past period of time – wandering around the forest, falling in love with a god, wandering again – so when you have to pass a river to get to the passage into the underworld, your legs give out while you're trying to fight the strong current.

They help you. They breathe new life into your legs, and by what you think is a miracle, but what you know is divine intervention, you make it across.

There is one thing, however, that they can't save you from.

You make it to the underworld safely, even if it's through trials and tribulations, and surprisingly, Tiara is willing to give you some of her youth serum.

However, she isn't willing to break the rules for you. You're still human and you're still in the underworld. A human should only be in the underworld for one reason – to live there eternally after their death on earth.

Tiara will give you her youth, but she won't give you your freedom to return to the world above, and there's nothing that Chad or Zeke or Jason can do about it.

You may not have died, but you are to stay in the underworld for eternity just like any other human.

It seems like Sharpay's plan has worked. You are stuck.

* * *

While you go on your hopeless quest to get your love back, your love remains in his deep slumber, unaware of the madness that's occurring around him.

And all the while, Sharpay tends to him. On the surface, it's a nice thing to do, but sympathy isn't the only reason she doesn't leave his side.

When he finally wakes up, still weak and frail, she's the first thing that he sees. Her words are the first he hears. She has the power to decide his fate, and by extension, yours.

She knows the truth about what happened to you. It's delightful to her, that you're stuck in the underworld with nowhere to go, but there's still one thing that's nagging at her.

While Tiara refuses to let you go, you're still not technically dead. You're still a living being that descended into the depths of the underworld with a quest. You have not been visited by death and led to the underworld to signal the end of your life.

And, as you're still technically alive, there is still the possibility that you'll find your way out one day, and that thought frightens her.

Therefore, when Troy opens his eyes, his usually clear blue eyes now a dull grey, she tells him that you're dead. She tells him that you have drowned in a river while trying to get to the underworld, that she was trying to give you another chance, that she's sorry.

She isn't, of course.

For days on end, the sky rumbles with Troy's agony and grief. For days on end, he weeps for you. And all the while, she remains by his side, pretending to be supportive, pretending to be a shoulder to cry on. And he's so overwhelmed by his grief that he doesn't notice her ulterior motives.

When his period of grief has finally seems to have ceased and the skies begin to clear again, Troy makes a decision.

He'll never find peace with losing you, and you'll never stop being the love of his life, but if he doesn't want to ruin the world with his grief, he needs to move on.

And Sharpay is right there to help him do just that.

So, he makes a decision, unknowingly giving Sharpay just what she wants.

He decides to marry her.

* * *

His fate, of course, is not to marry Sharpay, but to marry you.

Ryan, who is the only being who knows that this fate is still set in stone, will not interfere. He fears his sister too much – or, as he puts it himself, he doesn't want to have to deal with her dramatics.

So preparations are made for the biggest wedding that anyone in the universe, god or human, has ever seen. But, while Sharpay is thrilled to finally be getting her rightful place as Troy's wife, he is still miserable.

Not only has he lost you, but his friends also seem to have vanished, probably off to create mischief on earth and not caring at all about the precarious position he has found himself in.

What friends they are, not to return and be by his side immediately after his awakening and his discovery that you, the love of his life, are dead, and to support him through his impending marriage.

Therefore, when Chad, Zeke and Jason appear before him, just before the lavish wedding ceremony starts, he's angry and hurt that they haven't been here to help him.

However, he doesn't know what Chad, Zeke and Jason have been up to. He doesn't know that all this time, they have been by his side, trying to help _you_.

And now that they have failed to help you, they will not fail to help him.

So, before he can unleash his raging pain on them, they explain what has happened. They explain what Sharpay made you do, what she did to Kelsi, what actually happened to you at the river and in the underworld.

The sky rumbles with thunder again, as Troy's pain and distress reaches new, frightening heights.

At least he knows now, though. At least he knows that you still love him, that you're still out there somewhere if he can find a way to save you.

He knows that there's still a chance.

And even though that chance is decidedly slim, it plants a seed of hope within his heart. So, without notifying Sharpay, he leaves the East Mountain and makes way to the underworld.

If you're willing to fight for him, he will fight for you.

He doesn't know how yet, but he will get you back.

* * *

While chaos is interrupting in the heavens and on the East Mountain, you are unaware, still wallowing in your self-pity about your precarious situation.

Your soul is stuck and you now have to live with the fact that you'll never see your loved ones again and that you'll never get your happy ending. At least, that's what you think.

It's also what he thinks when he travels the underworld, Chad, Zeke, and Jason in tow. There's no way that Tiara is going to agree to let you go.

And indeed, she does refuse. When he arrives at her throne and makes his plea – what a pathetic sight, a god in such a vulnerable position in front of another –, she just laughs at him.

It's not even that she's a stickler for the rules or that she hates you like Sharpay does or that she's jealous of the other gods up there on the East Mountain like so many rumours have said in the past.

It's mischief that motivates her to be so cruel to him, to you.

If there's anything that Tiara likes, it's chaos and destruction. It's the walls crumbling and the suffering of others that diminishes her dread and fills her with an unspeakable joy.

Even when Troy tells her that this is her chance to get their joint revenge on Sharpay, she refuses. She wants to see this suffering and she won't budge.

However, there is one catch to Tiara's love for destruction. She does not enjoy it when she is the one that is being destroyed.

And, by some unknown force, that is exactly what happens after she refuses Troy's request.

Some say it's Troy's father Jack, the old god who retired and disappeared after Troy and his generation came of age, who unleashed his fury on Tiara for refusing his son happiness, but to this day, you still don't know for sure what caused it.

But, right after her refusal, the underworld begins to collapse. The carefully constructed walls start to crumbles and the rivers start to overrun and the souls of the dead start to disappear.

Just as Troy's happiness has crumbled around him, Tiara's entire realm crumbles.

It enrages her and only drives her to further abhor Troy, but she also knows that there's only one way to stop it.

She lets you go.

And as she does, the underworld is restored to its original state.

For the rest of eternity, neither you nor Troy ever mention it again. You still feel guilty for tricking the rules of the universe, even if it was indirectly and unintentional, and you still feel guilty for the suffering you caused Tiara.

Because, contrary to Tiara, you wouldn't ever want to wish suffering on anyone else.

However, despite the guilt, your happiness is also restored. When you see him, you jump into his arms, and he holds you tightly, securely. While you whisper apologies in his ear, he tells you he'll never let you go again.

Your heart flutters in your chest as he kisses you, just as marvellously as the first time.

This is where you belong, you think. With him.

This is what heaven truly feels like.

* * *

He takes you up to the East Mountain. It's nerve-wracking, to be among the gods, and you feel thoroughly inadequate, but everyone can see that he loves you and therefore, they love you too.

It's a relief for him, too, to be rid of the pressures for once, to be allowed to do whatever he wants to do.

Realizing that there's no way she can stop you now without resulting in a punishment for herself – perhaps a banishment even –, Sharpay releases Kelsi and disappears to the background. She never speaks to you again, always avoiding you, but you know that she will always carry a deep hatred for you.

It doesn't matter though, because Troy's love makes Sharpay's hatred worth it.

Zeke offers you a potion that immortalizes you, so you don't ever have to return to the underworld, so you can stay with Troy forever.

You get married in a lavish wedding, the East Mountain decorated with the prettiest of flowers in an attempt to replicate the magical meadow where you and Troy fell in love. Kelsi beams with pride, while Chad, Zeke and Jason pretend to gag as you kiss. Your parents and Taylor are there too, thrilled for you yet overwhelmed by it all.

Sharpay is nowhere to be found, but Ryan is present, smiling knowingly. He knew how this story would go, that you would end up here, despite his deliberately cryptic words to your parents that created some havoc – Ryan can have fun, too –, but he's still relieved that the story has been brought to a happy end.

You live long and happily, and your heart continues to burst with love every time he smiles at you and every time he kisses you.

It may not have been supposed to happen like this, but you're truly happy that it did. You're happy that Kelsi accidentally shot him with her arrow, you're happy that you fell in love with him in the meadow, you're happy that you've found your way to him through all of the trials and tribulations.

You're happy that fate has decided to be kind to you, and that the future that you thought would be cruel, is actually wonderful.

Because when you're with him, your fate is to be happy for the rest of time.


End file.
